Ring Stick Up Cam Wired Review

If you haven’t heard of Ring, you probably will soon. This Amazon-owned company started with the Ring Video Doorbell and has since expanded to regular security cameras. Their mission? To reduce crime in neighborhoods. In the past, I’ve looked at their full security system as well as the video doorbell, but today I want to take a closer look at the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired. It’s an indoor/ outdoor camera that retails for $180, so I’m excited to see if it’s worth the cash. In this review, I’ll go over the camera’s video, audio, and night vision, its storage, artificial intelligence capabilities, and smart platforms integrations, and its installation and app. Finally, I’ll break down whether or not the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired is the camera for you. Let’s get started!

Promised Features

The Ring Stick Up Cam Wired is making a lot of good promises to me through the Amazon website. I can almost hear the excitement in Jeff Bezos’ voice as he no doubt wrote about the camera’s:

1080p HD video: the camera shoots in the industry standard for video quality.

Two-way audio: the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired comes with a speaker and a microphone for easy communication.

Integration with Amazon Alexa: being owned by Amazon, this doesn’t exactly come as a shock.

Infrared night vision: my preferred method of night vision.

Weather-resistant: the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired will function normally in temperatures from negative five to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sounds good so far, but I try not to judge a camera by its Amazon description. Time to take this thing out of the box!

First Impressions

Ring Stick Up Cam Wired

Design-wise, I’m not exactly loving the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired. The long cylinder look doesn’t do it for me, especially with the camera in the upper quadrant of the black rectangle— it just looks off for some reason. The camera looks like it belongs in the early 2000s; it’s a bit bulky and clearly looks like a security camera.

The good things about the camera’s design is that you can plug it in for power and connect to Wi-Fi. It can be mounted either on a flat surface or on a wall or ceiling, and keep in mind that this camera can be used indoors or out, so you definitely have some flexibility. Perhaps I can forgive the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired’s so-so looks, but it all comes down to how it actually performs. Which brings me to my next point!

Necessary Features

Ring Stick Up Cam Wired Necessary Features

I put every camera I review through Security Baron’s Necessary Features test. It ensures not only that the camera is up to industry standards, but that it actually performs well in practice. Let’s see how the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired stacks up to my very high standards.

Video

Ring Stick Up Cam Wired Video Display

The Ring Stick Up Cam Wired offers 1080p HD video, the industry standard as I said before. It goes above and beyond, however, when it comes to field of view, with an 150 degree viewing angle. This is certainly a wide shot, but unfortunately the camera can’t zoom at all. Drat! Despite this, I’m giving the camera full marks for its video.

Night Vision

Ring Stick Up Cam Wired Night Vision

I’m happy that the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired has infrared night vision as oppose to color night vision. You might think that color night vision sounds like a better deal. After all, would Wizard of Oz have had the same effect if Dorothy showed up to a black and white Munchkinland? But this isn’t an MGM musical, and ultimately you don’t want people to know you’re recording them with a harsh white light. You want to monitor in stealth, and that’s exactly what an infrared LED sensor will provide. Full marks!

Audio

Ring Stick Up Cam Wired Speaker

Like I said before, the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired has two-way audio which will enable the person livestreaming the footage to speak with the person in front of the camera. I’ve seen videos of people scaring away intruders with two-way audio, so I’m definitely happy its included with the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired. This one’s a no-brainer— full marks.

Storage

Ring Protect Plans

If you want any cloud or local storage, you’ll need to invest in a paid monthly subscription. If you only have the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired and not the rest of the Ring security system, I would recommend doing the Protect Basic Plan. It’s only three dollars a month or $30 a year. Unfortunately, the free plan doesn’t allow you any storage whatsoever, a definite drawback of the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired. For the lack of local storage and free cloud storage, I have to give the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired half marks for storage.

Smart Platform Integration

Given that Amazon owns Ring, it’s not surprising that the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired integrates with Amazon Alexa. Unfortunately, that integration doesn’t extend to Google Assistant, so I would only buy this camera if you’re already in the Amazon ecosystem. Still, Alexa is the most popular smart home around, so the Stick Up Cam gets full marks for smart platform integration.

Artificial Intelligence

The Ring Stick Up Cam Wired does not have any artificial intelligence capabilities, meaning it can’t tell the difference between types of moving objects. You might get some unnecessary notifications if a pet walks around, a car drives by, or some leaves rustle in the wind. For the total lack of A.I, the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired gets no marks.

Convenience

Ring Stick Up Cam Wired Mount

Installing the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired wasn’t the easiest camera I’ve installed, but it was pretty close. I had to sync it up with the base station from my Ring Alarm Security Kit. The easiest way to do that is to just follow the instructions on the app’s video tutorials and make sure you’re not syncing anything else at the same time. The process should only take a few minutes, especially if you’re just placing it on a flat surface.

Value

Although the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired is on the more expensive side at $179, I think it’s a good deal. With indoor/ outdoor capabilities, weather resistance, flexible mounting, and affordable cloud storage, you get a lot from the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired that many competitors can’t match. Overall, I’m giving this camera full marks for value.

Extras

The Ring Stick Up Cam Wired has a built-in siren, perfect for scaring away intruders. You can also create motion zones within the Ring app. Motion zones are basically areas that you want the camera to focus on, like a window or a baby’s crib. When you set up motion zones, you’ll get more specific notifications, always a plus when you don’t have any A.I features.

Mobile Application

Ring— Always Home App

The Ring— Always Home App is where you’ll livestream footage, speak through two-way audio, get neighborhood crime and safety alerts, control your camera, receive notifications, and view video storage.

The app has okay ratings, but just okay— a 3.3 from the Apple Store and a 3.4 from the Google Play store. Many people complained about the plethora of unnecessary notifications, a side effect of the lack of artificial intelligence. I also saw other people complain about a delay between motion and notifications, probably a result of cloud storage or a bad Internet connection.

Comparisons

Now I want to compare the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired to two other cameras— the Canary Flex, an indoor/ outdoor camera, and the Nest Cam Indoor. Let’s see how it stacks up to its tough competition.

Canary Flex

Canary Flex

Like the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired, the Canary Flex is also an indoor/ outdoor, a bit cheaper at $170. It also has 1080p HD video display, although it defaults to 720p HD, so you may have to change it manually. The Flex’s field of view is a tiny bit more narrow than I’d like at 116 degrees, compared to the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired’s wide field of view of 150 degrees. Both cameras have great infrared night vision, two-way audio, easy installation, and integrations with Amazon Alexa, although the Canary Flex is also integrated with Google Assistant.

Neither camera has local storage, unfortunately, but at least the Canary Flex gives you some free cloud storage— a whopping 24 hours. After that, you can pay for 30 days of cloud storage with a membership for $9.99 a month or $9.99 a year, more expensive than Ring’s plans. The Flex also beats the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired when it comes to artificial intelligence. While the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired has no A.I features, the Canary Flex comes with person and even package detection! I’d recommend the Canary Flex over the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired due to its A.I capabilities, integration with Google Assistant, and cheaper price, but these two came pretty close.

Nest Cam Indoor

Nest Cam Indoor

Unlike the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired, the Nest Cam Indoor doesn’t have outdoor capabilities, so that’s something to keep in mind. At $200, it’s $20 more than the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired, so we’ll see if it’s worth the high price. Video-wise, the cameras are pretty similar. Both have 1080p HD display, but the Nest Cam Indoor has a field of view 20 degrees more narrow than that of the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired at 130 degrees. However, the Nest Cam Indoor redeems itself with the ability to zoom in eight times, while the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired can’t zoom in at all. Both cameras have quality infrared night vision, two-way audio, and integrations with Amazon Alexa, but the Nest Cam Indoor also works with Google Assistant, Chromecast, and Philips Hue lightbulbs. Neither camera comes with A.I, although the Nest Cam Indoor at least offers person detection with a Nest Aware subscription.

Now let’s talk about storage. Unfortunately, neither camera has local storage, and the Nest Cam Indoor only gives you three hours of free cloud storage, which is still better than the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired’s total lack of free cloud storage. If you’re willing to pay for cloud storage, Ring’s plans are much cheaper. For three dollars a month with your Ring Stick Up Cam Wired, you can get 60 days of cloud storage, while five dollars with the Nest Cam Indoor only gives you five days of storage. Overall, I’d choose the Ring Stick Up Cam Wired over the Nest Cam Indoor because it’s more affordable, especially with clouds storage.

Subscribe Today!

Gabe Turner is an attorney and journalist with a passion for home tech and secure, efficient living. Since graduating from NYU Law, he has maintained a paradoxical existence of trying to live life adventurously while remaining staunchly risk-averse. He is torn by the dual desires of wanting to only be in Brooklyn writing about housing policy and smart home tech and aspiring to visit his friends scattered across the globe. Gabe believes that stable, safe communities are the cornerstone to a vibrant and healthy society, and it is this passion that brought him to contribute to Security Baron.